Man plunges to his death from unit balcony while taking part in the craze of 'planking'

A NEW internet craze known as "planking" has claimed the life of a man who died when he plunged from a Brisbane balcony, police believe.
Planking involves participants lying flat on their stomach in different and sometimes dangerous settings and sharing photos of their efforts with
fellow plankers on Facebook or other social media sites.

It has gone viral in recent weeks with the Facebook page Planking Australia boasting almost 10,000 fans and hundreds of photos of people lying on
train tracks, escalators, fire hydrants, motorbikes, and other objects.

The craze prompted police warnings last week after the arrest of a 20-year-old Gladstone man discovered planking on a police car.

Police today said their fears had been realised with the death of a man attempting the new fad.

Shortly before 4.30am, a man in his early 20s plummeted from a unit block in Main Street, in inner city Kangaroo Point, and died at the scene.

I am sure there are much more important things for people to focus there time on then pulling stupid stunts like this.

Wow the things people will do for attention, while some of the pictures are funny, mostly I think it's just a new way for morons to possibly take
themselves out of the gene pool. Let them have at it, is what I say. My big question is why do people have to copy everything they see on tv or the
net?

Planking can be pretty funny, but as with anything else one does in this world, it should be done with some common sense. Not everyone tries to plank
high up railings. I've seen hilarious pictures of people doing it, and none of them in particularly dangerous locations. Sure, it's completely silly
and pointless, but it's good for a laugh. It's just gotten a bad reputation lately because that chap died, and another man is in a coma after
falling whilst planking the boot of a moving car - which is simply taking it too far I think. I admit I'm guilty of the occasional plank myself. I
know I'm an idiot, and I'm totally okay with that.

I cannot seem to comprehend the reasoning behind it. As far as I can tell, the ONLY purpose is to try and make a "cooler" picture than your Facebook
friends. In this day and age, when EVERYTHING can be photoshopped easily, why is this just now becoming popular? It would make more sense to me, if
this was 1995.

en.wikipedia.org...People are weird is the moral to this story!
And don't say you remember Flat Stanley or you'll be giving away your age.

Many people do not know Flat Stanley is actually George and Laura Bush's youngest child.
Dimensionally handicapped they keep him out of the public eye, but here's a rare photo of the family together.
You see the resemblance to his father is quite striking when they stand together like this.

You might think this is pretty funny but Flat Stan is going to run for President one day and he's sure to do a better job than most of the recent
Presidents we've had.

Originally posted by SireFurious
This is just one fad in a chain of many fads that have come and gone. Polesitting, Phonebooth Stuffing, Parkour, Performance Art, Candid Camera....
etc..

I do not know this for a fact, but I have never heard of people dying while squeezing into a phonebooth, or while on Candid Camera. I don't even know
what some of those others are, that you mentioned, but have many people died while attempting them?

You're missing the point, which is that kids have been killed or injured, here in New Zealand, and next door in Australia.
OK, you can say "Darwin Awards", better they remove themselves from the gene pool, but even so, some fads deserve to be stomped out.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.